SOUTH PLAINFIELD 11U DYNAMITE WIN READINGTON MEMORIAL DAY TOURNAMENT

By JOHN PADOVANO

May 31, 2014 at 3:00 AM

READINGTON, NJ - The South Plainfield Dynamite had an unbelievable weekend in the Readington Memorial Day Baseball Tournament. The boys played solid defense, pitched unbelievably, and hit the ball all over the field. The coaches are so proud of these boys; this is a special group of boys who gives it their all every time they step on the field.

The tournament started on Saturday with their first game against Delaware Valley. The Dynamite got things going in the first inning with four straight hits by Darren Ochoa, Anthony White, Brandon Shine, and Johnny Padovano. Then Alfred Pace and Nick Loniewski came up and had clutch hits with an RBI each to cap the scoring in the first inning. After the first inning, the score was Dynamite 5 and Del Val 0. In the top of the third inning the Dynamite got things going again. With a runner on first-base, Johnny Padovano smacked a two run home run over the right field fence to give the Dynamite a 7-0 lead. Brandon Shine and Mitchell Dudak each pitched 3 great innings, shutting down Del Val, and allowing just six hits and two runs. The Dynamite won their first pool play game 7 - 2.

The second game on Saturday was against Flemington. Alfred Pace started the Dynamite scoring with an RBI single in the first inning. Troy O’Connor pitched the first three innings. O’Connor pitched phenomenally only allowing three hits and three runs. Austin Scott, Kenny Clevenger, Jake Jones, and Troy O’Connor had big hits in the second and third innings to push more runs across for the Dynamite. In the fifth inning, Darren Ochoa smashed a solo homerun over the centerfield fence to extend the Dynamite’s lead to 5-3. In the sixth inning Cody Hunterton hit a two run moon shot over the left field fence to open it up for the Dynamite. Darren Ochoa pitched the last three innings and shut down Flemington. The Dynamite beat Flemington 8 - 4.

In the third pool play game, the Dynamite bats were hot once again in the first inning. Anthony White, Brandon Shine, and Johnny Padovano had key hits in the first inning. Then Troy O’Connor came up and smacked a double to round out the scoring. After one inning of play, the Dynamite led Readington 6-0. Kenny Clevenger then came up in the second inning and had a key RBI for the Dynamite. Mitchell Dudak’s bat was on fire against Readington, smacking two singles and having key RBI’s. Nick Loniewski’s bat stayed hot with another clutch hit. Jake Jones was behind the plate for his third game and there was no ball getting past Jones. Jones was throwing people out; he was the human backstop, stellar behind the plate. Cody Hunterton and Kenny Clevenger shut down Readington, giving up a combined nine hits and two runs over six innings. The Dynamite won 10 - 2 and solidified the number 1 seed.

In the finals, there was a pitcher’s duel between Brandon Shine and Johanssen from Readington for the first 3 innings. Then in the third inning, Jake Jones broke the no-hitter up with a base hit. Mitchell Dudak laced a single to start the scoring. Austin Scott and Kenny Clevenger each laced singles in the third as well. Brandon Shine laced a double and Alfred Pace had a bunt single in the fourth inning to add two more runs for the Dynamite. The Dynamite poured it on in the fifth inning with six more runs. Austin Scott started the hitting, followed by Darren Ochoa, Anthony White and Brandon Shine. With two outs in the fifth inning, the score was 8 - 0; Johnny Padovano came up and hit a 2 run home run over the center field fence to give the Dynamite the 10 - 0 victory against Readington. Brandon Shine was stellar on the mound, a dominant performance going five innings, allowing just five hits, no-runs, and six strikeouts. Darren Ochoa made a spectacular catch in right field. Troy O’Connor, Nick Loniewski, and Cody Hunterton made some game saving plays in the field to solidify the Dynamite defense. At the end of the game, the coaches from each team picked an MVP from each team, Brandon Shine was named MVP for the game. The coaches would like to thank all of our great parents for sacrificing their Memorial Day weekend for the boys to play great baseball.

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